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Google@Columbia Recap

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On 2/28/18, Emerging Technology Consortium hosted an interactive workshop featuring Google solutions like Daydream (AR & VR) and G Suite (including Jamboard) with the goals of:

  • Integrate demos to showcase implementation in teaching & learning

  • Experience Daydream headsets

  • Discuss use cases for Google's higher education AR/VR pilot

  • Meet and discuss with Google's product team

  • Provide feedback and feature requests to influence product design

We had opening remarks from Parixit about the ETC and how the idea for this unique day came into shape.

Marta from Google laid out our goals for the day

Leslie from the Future Design School gave some background on what they do and how they would facilitate our time together.

Team Up!

We organized into groups of 5 for our workshop.  Here's how we did it:

  1. made one long line of all attendees down center of the room (without talking) that went from roles closest to students to those furthest from students
  2. participants then counted off down the line (1 through 5) to form their groups for the day; all 1's together, all 2's together, etc.  At least one student in each group, and maybe one instructor as well
  3. group members introduce each other

Demos

Emerging Tech leaders from the Future Design School in Canada and Google introduced us to the many new possibilities in teaching and learning using AR/VR:

Jamboard

Jamboard

For a warmup and introduction to Google's Jamboard, we played our own version of the 80's tv show "Win, Lose or Draw". Each team is given two tablets. As one person is given a phrase to draw on his tablet, other team members try to guess the phrase while watching the drawing appear in real time on their own tablets. 

A part of the G Suite family, Jamboard is a collaborative, digital whiteboard that makes it easy to create without boundaries and share ideas in real time. 

Google Expeditions AR

Google Expeditions AR

Using the Expeditions app and a smart phone, we viewed 3D objects from every angle including bacteria and a virus. The experience was immersive and engaging, making the user want to physically interact with the virtual object.